Rango: The Video Game

Review

He’s not just a green lizard

He’s not just a green lizard

Rango is in fact a chameleon. One who has become the hero of the Wild West town of Dirt. Actually, he has become the new Sheriff. But unfortunately, something horrible has happened in the dusty town. A strange space rock has crashed nearby and has somehow resulted in the disappearance of the father of Rango’s female friend, Beans. As you would expect, there is work up ahead. Each section of the game tells one chapter of the overall story which does not follow that of the movie. Hence, the designers were given a certain bit of creative freedom and they’ve come up with a game that contains some witty dialogue and a wonderful, cut-scene driven storyline.

Get out your six shooter

The story has Rango travelling to various locations around the town. The movement is reminiscent of the PSOne classic Spyro the Dragon, in how Rango moves around the landscape and how the camera follows him. For the most part, the camera action was just fine, but there are times when you’ll need to move around so that you can observe your surroundings more clearly. I did have a few issues when the camera moved around at the most inopportune time when Rango was about to leap across a crevice or overhanging ledge. It is rarely an issue, as the checkpoints are numerous and you rarely have to complete much of a level to be back at your point of previous demise. Apart from the minor camera gripe, Rango’s movement is quite fluent. He runs, climbs, jumps and hangs around with ease and the context sensitive controls all work superbly well.

Of course, all that walking, running and jumping leads Rango somewhere, usually to take part in a shootout mini-game. The shooting sections are a heap of fun and the fact that the Wiimote control is surprisingly accurate makes it just that much more enjoyable. Sure, it takes a fairly steady hand to aim – something that the younger gamers may struggle with by themselves – but the aiming and shooting using the B button works well. It can be tough trying to hit the smaller targets but this presents gamers with more of a challenge.

Fire at will

Rango only has a six-shooter with which to take care of all the enemy forces. As one would expect, his trusty six shooter needs to be reloaded when he’s wasted all his ammo. This can be done automatically or manually. Manually reloading is much faster and can be done at any time, even if you haven’t fired off all your ammunition. This is often advantageous as it means you can reload between waves of opponents, or whilst Rango is behind cover. It works rather well, and if you forget to reload, the automatic reload kicks in.